Use This Chart to Save $1,000 This Year!

If someone asked you to save $1,000 right now, could you do it? How would it make you feel? What would you cut back on? (Or would you need to go out and find a new hustle??)

$1,000 is a lot of money no matter what position you’re in. And if someone told me to save it on the spot I’d probably first sigh, and then add it right to my list of a million other things I still need to do – hah. I love me some money, but trying to save large chunks at a time is hard! I prefer slow and steady, please.

Which is why the second I saw this chart from MediumSizedFamily.com I immediately had a moneygasm (real thing!). A challenge + chart + print out all rolled into one?? SIGN ME UP!

The $1,000 Money Savings Chart!

Pick one amount to save every week, and by the end of the year you’ll have a cool $1,000! I can’t even count the ways I love this thing! Oh wait, yes I can…

It’s VISUAL! Ensuring an 872% more chance of you actually following through.

It’s FLEXIBLE. No increasing amounts or other harder-to-stay-motivated goals as the weeks go by with other challenges, just tick off the ones as life allows!

It’s EASY. You literally only have to pick 1 box and then make 1 savings xfer.

It’s DOABLE. Scan your credit card or accounts right now, and I guarantee you’ll see plenty of numbers that match up there which you could have easily crossed off the list.

It gives you a FREE PASS! Did you see that $0.00 spot in there?? How’s that for a savings challenge – “Save nothing this week” and still win!

And lastly, it’s FUN. Print off a copy for your best friend and challenge each other to win together! Then throw yourselves a (cheap) party at the end while you count all your benjamins.

Good one, right? And I just found the PERFECT savings account to go along with this too which will reward you even more on TOP of these savings, hopefully motivating you even more :) I haven’t finished writing it up yet, but look for it to drop this Wednesday!

So, first, commit to taking this challenge this year, then secondly, come back in two days and see if this bank is a worthy spot to stash all your new cash. You can of course get started right away too and use your own, but whatever you do just make sure to keep the $$ separate so you can track your progress and stay excited! Nothing’s worse than not being able to appreciate your hard-earned savings. That was one of the biggest takeaways doing my Challenge Everything mission the other year…

Separated savings = multiplied encouragement

Here are some parting words from Jamie who came up with this brilliant chart:

“A simple way to boost your money saving chart is deciding that any “found money” you get will go into that account. That means everything from getting a bonus to rebates to literally finding money in a pocket or on the street. Just match the amount you get to the box on the chart.”

It’s 100% free, and Jamie also recommends hanging it on the fridge or anywhere else you’ll see it every day which I completely agree with. Get yourself one of those big fat markers to start crossing off those boxes too! :) DO IT!!!!!

******PS: $1,000 to easy for you? Take Romeo’s challenge down in the comments and add an additional “0” to the mix! ;) That’ll make $1,000 –> $10,000! (And the $0 spot still $0, haha…)

Use This Chart to Save $1,000 This Year! was last modified: June 26th, 2018 by J. Money

Jay loves talking about money, collecting coins, blasting hip-hop, and hanging out with his three beautiful boys. You can check out all of his online projects at jmoney.biz. Thanks for reading the blog!

Fun idea, especially if you actually bank that money separately like you suggested. There’s definitely something more motivating about tracking cash toward a specific goal — or even just watching a “slush fund” build up for a to-be-determined use.

Love this idea! It should totally go viral on Pinterest. It’s interesting to me how $1,000 can seem like a lot of money, but when you break it down into smaller chunks it’s not that much per week. I use automatic drafts to save a bit of money aside each week – over the course of a year $20 each week adds up to over $1,000 as well! It’s the perfect way to get some money set aside for Christmas, birthdays, or a vacation.

Nice idea. I like how each week you’ll put the savings in a separate account to keep yourself honest. I think this challenge is especially fitting for those new to the frugal life as it can be eye opening finding new places to save.

Whoa! This is freakin’ awesome! I always preferred the decreasing chart that started high in January and ended low in December – ain’t nobody got extra money around the holidays. ;) But this one! This one blows that one outta the water. Love week 0.00!

Pretty cool idea. Make a game of it and seperate the funds. So much of savings Is psychological. In this way you cut it down into bite size chunks and picking up competitive motivation of beating the game, I’m forwarding this post along to some friends that have trouble saving.

This is definitely a brilliant idea! I’m already saving a lot to investment accounts and short-term saving accounts. But I think when I’m back home I will give this a try! $1,000 are really much money no matter of your current situation and position.

Sorry, I’m going to disagree here. If you have to struggle that much to save $1,000, then you need to change the whole paradigm. This chart might be useful for a bit because it gamify saving. However, it’s just too much overhead. I’d be interested to hear if anyone really finish this. Digit is much easier.

You don’t think the chart would get you to stop and *think* more about your saving/spending each week as you go through it? I agree Digit is much easier – and of course I’m their #1 fan! – but the con to them is that you never see anything going on so if you need to get your mind right you gotta start with more manual ways first before going that route. So to me this chart, or any other “tricks” you use to force yourself to learn/save accomplishes what it sets out to do. And, well, if you don’t last the entire year it either means you finally “get it” now and can move on to saving by yourself or using nifty fintech apps, OR it means you weren’t really that serious about saving anyways, in which case nothing’s going to help you out :(

This is such an ingenious idea! I can think of so many other applications as well (such as extra debt/credit card payments). One thing I think this will help me with personally is getting ahead of my husband’s work expenses. I’ve created a savings goal in Digit (thank you for introducing me to that gem) and plan to use this chart along w/ my YNABing until I no longer freak out when I hear “So babe, I need this thing for work…”

haha. I second Joe’s opinion. But clearly, Joe, you’ve elevated outside of this chart’s target market. There really IS a lot people who struggle to save $1,000 in a year. More than you think. But you’re right, at that point they are overcome more than just “money issues.” I’m sure.

That said, this chart is awesome because you can add a $0 at the end of each of the numbers to go from “beginner” to “novice.” Don’t like saving $1,000 in one year? Go to $10,000.

Just opened a new savings account too, so this would fit nicely. I’m already rocking Digit though, so the ease of saving for this seems less. Although it might not be as easy to dip into the savings with manual transfers (versus automatically). Great visual!

The more games we play along the way, the faster the time shall pass, and the more likely we are to succeed.

This would make for a good app. You could enter the amount you want to save and it could generate a chart that added up to that number. You could link your checking and savings account to the app and have it do the transfer every time you scratched one off the chart. You could make it social so that you can share your chart progress with your friends. You could set common goals with a group of friends, like dinner at blah blah when everyone completes their charts.

Great idea! I’m going to use this to hand out to the kids for the next youth finance workshop. I might also see if I can incorporate a game/activity into the session such as come up with as many side hustle/savings ideas as possible to cover the different amounts.

A note to Jamie – You should put your website on the pdf download so that if people use and share it, your site would get the credit.

Interesting spin! The only reservation I’d have with this is that it doesn’t get you in the habit of consistently spending the same amount. On the other hand, I could actually see people having so much fun with this chart that they’d start challenging themselves to go way above and beyond the chart’s challenge! So I guess it really depends on what kind of person you are. I’m a boring old structure guy (I still have a bedtime), so I’m gonna stick to saving a fixed amount per week. But for everyone else who actually has spunk…

Oh J $$$$. Still reading but rarely posting. Last month you got me to finally (l-o-n-g stretch there) sign up with Digit – thank you very much I’m $250+ ahead already. Now you find a game I can actually execute. I think I’m in love with you again. (no worries wife person; it’s a blog-reading-money-saving-older-lady in love)

This a what savings could look like if you save money every 2 weeks for a year. This what I was talking about when I said I have numbers stuck in my head.
$1 = $26 $6 = $156
$2 = $52 $7 = $182
$3 = $78 $8 = $208
$4 =$104 $9 = $234
$5 = $130 $10 = $260

This is a Facebook post that I wrote. I forgot to add that if this is too little money , you can alway multiply it by 10.

I’m so sorry I didn’t see that copy and paste did that till just now. And your right about the 401k match. I’m noticing that a lot of money challenges like the one you posted tend to progress. I like a steady pace but I think I’m going to add a dollar every time I hit $100. I’m actually already at $21 every two weeks. I’ll keep doing this until I can’t hold a budget. lol

Ha, great tip, I haven’t think about it like that. What I have found best for me has been automation. In theory, when I get a paycheck, I transfer 15% of it to my broker account. Btw. you have a great site.

This is an excellent idea for me. I’m a disabled Viet Nam era Army vet living on a non-service connected disability. The ONLY drawback is putting the money in an actual savings account. If I have even $20 in a savings account, it gets subtracted from my pension….it’s considered “income”. So…if I saved $1000 in a savings account, my government would deduct it and for one month I would only receive what’s left from my pension….$97. I have to just keep it in a jar. That sucks!

Kathryn, thank you for your service, and I am so sorry that the powers that be won’t let you save. I can’t help but wonder if it’s that way with other forms of aid. Ridiculous to discourage savings. Anyway, I suggest putting it in the freezer or in an oatmeal box on your pantry shelf–somewhere a thief won’t look in case, God forbid, someone breaks into your home.

Challenge accepted! I am going to make this retroactive and cross off some of the small ones for the first three weeks. I may double it, as one poster has suggested–adding a zero would be great, but not sure I could do $10,000. My coin jar is full–time to visit the CoinStar. (I will opt for the Amazon gift card and find the actual money to save somewhere else–last time I checked, CoinStar charges 15% if you want cash.) Thanks for the inspiration!

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